- In this edition of "Arteffects", patchwork designs exploring memory and truth.

(solemn music) - [Ana] I was thinking a lot about cultures and experiences that can be transformed when they're duplicated and regurgitated.

(solemn music) - [Beth] A Weavers' Guild in Ohio embracing textile arts.

- An organization like the Guild allows us to get the instruction, get the support, and keep the love of weaving going.

(wood thumping) - [Beth] And the impactful story of artist and activist Jean LaMarr.

- [Jean] Well, I hope when someone sees my work, they feel joy and feel the colors and how exciting the indigenous life is.

(singers singing in foreign language) - It's all ahead on this edition of "Arteffects".

(bright upbeat music) - [Presenter] Funding for "Arteffects" is made possible by Sandy Raffealli with Bill Pierce Motors.

Heidemarie Rochlin.

(bright upbeat music) In memory of Sue McDowell.

(bright upbeat music) The Carol Frank Buck Foundation.

(bright upbeat music) And by the annual contributions of PBS Reno members.

(gentle music) - Hello, I'm Beth MacMillan and welcome to "Arteffects".

At the Depot Gallery in Sparks, local artist Ana Perez-McKay's solo exhibition features a paralleled quilt and paper series titled "Uncharted.'

The duplicated patchwork examines how imitation can often distort history and truth.

Take a look.

(gentle rhythmic music) - I'm Ana Perez-McKay.

We're at the Depot Gallery, which is managed by Sierra Arts and my show is called "Uncharted", and it's a series of 18 pieces done with printmaking and paint, quilting and crochet reflecting on truth and source and history with the ways that things can get misconstrued and flattened and oversimplified.

(gentle upbeat music) The crochet pieces that are seen in the work are made out of fibers that are mostly embroidery floss that I found in my grandparents' house.

I spent a year in Ireland and my family is from there, and I was able to find some materials that had belonged to women in my family.

And then, the patchwork is done with different sources.

Some of them were from my own collection and other projects in the past, from thrift stores, and some of them were really old stock from Mill End Fabrics here in Reno.

The wood that I used was willow from the Truckee River.

My girlfriend actually went and foraged a bunch of these willow sticks for me.

I really like displaying these pieces kind of as tapestries on the wall.

And the best way to do that is with some kind of dowel.

Getting local sticks from near the river is so much better than buying a dowel that's gone through a factory and been resold back to me.

It's kind of a really simple reason for using that wood, but also I think it really ties in with the rest of the show as well.

(gentle upbeat music) I was thinking a lot about the literal truth and meaning in objects and in cultures and experiences that can be transformed when they're duplicated and regurgitated and changed, and how culture treats people and society is able to support and degrade different groups.

(car whooshing) And Sierra Arts put out a call for artists.

So, I put together a proposal that kind of brought what I had been working on and thinking about together.

They encouraged artists to propose a couple of community engagement events.

What I came up with was a mending circle that would take place in the gallery, which is be open to the public, encouraging people to come and have a space that's calm and peaceful to kind of all work on mending stuff together, to share skills.

(gentle upbeat music) Also, when I was in Ireland, I went to a couple of knitting circles.

Everyone was working on their own little project.

I hadn't met anyone before, but it was just such a lovely warm environment.

I really feel like connecting over craft is a really lovely way to connect people and to celebrate handy crafts and things that we love to do.

And then, I also hosted a workshop at like a press and pressure printing, which is the technique that I used in this show.

It's a technique that I chose because it let me print directly from these lace objects that I had been making without putting ink or shellac, or anything on the lace itself.

So, this process happens when you put down a layer of ink just flat on a flat surface, then put your paper on top of that, and then the lace on top of that, and run the whole thing through a press so that the lace presses into the paper, presses into the ink, and that picks up an impression of the lace on the paper.

- Oh my god.

- Wow.

Yeah.

- When my grandma did a lot of knitting and she showed me a little bit how to do that when I was younger, I fell in love with crochet a little more.

And it was just a hobby that I picked up and really, really did a lot of when I was in, like, elementary school.

With sewing, I also learned to do that when I was pretty young from, like, my mom and my aunt.

I was a very quiet and reserved kid and I liked my quiet hobbies.

And then, I didn't do it so much for quite a few years.

And then, I really kind of rediscovered my love for it more recently.

Being able to make my own designs and pull together these materials that kind of have sentimental value and have this history that I'm really thinking about.

(gentle upbeat music) I started doing this work when I was in Ireland, did the dice piece there when I was kind of reminiscing about Reno and wanting to make something kind of playful.

And then, I was designing more floral based charts when I came back to Reno, reminiscing on the natural beauty that I saw in Ireland.

And I had a lot of time to work on those charts and to do some stitching when I was volunteering at the Warming Center here in Reno.

Women and people with kids can come in and just sleep in a safe, warm place for the night just to get them off the streets for a little bit of time.

(somber music) Being an artist in Reno is really interesting and has inspired me a lot of reflection on my role as an artist and as someone who gets to be in a gallery, especially in contrast with a lot of the living conditions that a lot of my neighbors are being subjected to at this time, especially with homelessness and with various threats to people's way of life.

As people who love art, it would make more sense and be more of a true approach to wanting to see more art in the world, to do what we can to make life easier for people in our community so that as many people as possible are able to make art and to love art.

Even though I'm being represented in a gallery and I have a degree in art, anyone can do craft and do art, and have it be really special and meaningful.

It's been really nice to talk to people about using textiles and reusing fabrics.

I'm really hoping to inspire just reflection on the ways that we think about the world, like caring for the earth and caring for each other, preservation of natural resources.

That's really important to me.

(bright upbeat music) - To learn more about Ana Perez-McKay, visit their website at anaperezmckay.com.

And now, it's time for this week's art quiz.

Ireland's great famine of the 1840s threw many into poverty, prompting the people of Ireland to come up with creative ways to support their families and community.

What craft did they notably rely on to supplement income?

Is the answer A, crochet, B, pottery, C, beadwork or D, felting?

Stay tuned for the answer.

In Ohio, the Weavers' Guild of Miami Valley is a nonprofit organization that embraces hand weaving, hand spinning, and the textile arts.

Started in 1949, the guild brings together individuals to practice their craft.

(gentle rhythmic music) - The Weavers' Guild of Miami Valley encompasses any person who is interested in weaving, interested in spinning.

- Most of our members are weavers, but not all.

We have people that are involved in knitting, quilting, fiber arts in general.

You name it, they do it.

This is our 70th anniversary, and so we have been celebrating by having displays at various libraries and historic societies in the area.

- They've put exhibits in all of the libraries to give people a chance to know the guild is here and thriving.

(laughs) - [Guild Member] And then, of course, we'll be at the wool gathering.

- The guild sponsored the wool gathering originally, and Young's Jersey Dairy took it over, but the guild started that and it just grew.

- The wool gathering is my favorite (chuckles) because of all the vendors that attend the wool gathering.

Bring your pocketbook.

I guess if you asked each member, they'd have a different answer as to what they get from being a member of the Weavers' Guild.

But our primary purpose is education.

We would like to teach weaving, spinning to those folks who are interested in learning.

In addition to that, I believe personally that it is a way to preserve a craft that is not predominant today as it was once in the past.

- The days of learning from your mom, your grandma, Aunt Sally, those days are gone, and we're not raised with it right next to us.

So, an organization like the guild allows us to get the instruction, get the support, and keep the love of weaving going.

(wood thumping) - People who think it's really simple and fast, quick, easy to do, it's not.

So, I tell people, "It is a time consuming craft, hobby, endeavor," and so they need to be made aware of that.

The weaving part is not that time consuming.

What is time consuming is planning.

Planning your colors, what fibers you're going to use.

(gentle music) - The advantage of weaving is the way you just depose the fibers creates a particular hand in a cloth, and that's where all the differences in a handwoven piece as opposed to a machine-woven piece.

And there's nothing wrong with machine-woven pieces either.

It's just there's a difference in the hand and the design and the creativity that all goes into how a weaver uses the fibers.

- I enjoy working with cotton or cotton blend.

I have worked with other fibers such as wool and synthetics.

The items I like to weave are scarves and household items, towels, placements, table runners.

My goal eventually is to weave a coverlet and maybe I'll get there one day.

- Most of my weaving when I worked was yardage that I would then make into clothes.

So, a lot of my inspiration would be things you saw in stores, in magazines, and you would say, "Oh, well, they did this and this.

I could do that."

And then try it from there.

The scarf I did at a workshop, several years ago a new theme came out that was called iridescent weaving.

And that was using yarns that if you move the item, they would show different colors, they would irides.

It's very simple weave structure.

It's just that the colors play with each other against each other, and that's the finished effect.

- The weaving I do is primarily for the wall or collages, so it's a different process.

I will work with any fiber in a collage.

You can use any material that you find lovely.

(laughs softly) - For me, it's a way to express myself.

With the spinning, it's a way to just relax.

- Craft making is very relaxing.

It regenerates your spirit.

And there's something very musical about just doing the same thing over and over, and it just, it calms you down.

We do have a monthly meeting and at each monthly meeting there is a program presented.

- Someone will come and discuss weaving, dyeing, some topic that has to do with fiber.

People attending the meeting will bring something that they've just finished and show and talk about what they did and yarns they used and that sort of thing.

- This my first weave without going in fear.

- [Guild Member] The show and tell is primarily to encourage the guild members to keep working.

- Sometimes that will be followed with a workshop in conjunction with the presentation.

There are probably five or six different workshops during the year.

I think it's amazing that this guild has lasted as long as it has.

I've been members in other groups and organizations and they kinda come and go.

People chose different interest, avenues, past life interferes, and they don't have the longevity that the Weavers' Guild has.

I think the thing to remember from all of this is the Weavers' Guild while being 70 is still very young at heart, is still doing new and challenging things.

We stay on the cutting edge and we're constantly bringing new ideas, inventive ideas to the guild.

And age is just a number.

It's how you feel young at heart.

And I think this group is very young at heart.

(gentle somber music) (wood thumping) - To learn more, head to wgmv.org.

And now, let's review this week's art quiz.

Ireland's great famine of the 1840s threw many into poverty, prompting the people of Ireland to come up with creative ways to support their families and community.

What craft did they notably rely on to supplement income?

Is the answer A, crochet, B, pottery, C, beadwork or D, felting.

And the answer is A, crochet.

Up next, artist and activist Jean LaMarr uses printmaking and murals to share the traditions of her Native American ancestors.

LaMarr's artwork communicates an important message.

That native people of this land are still here.

We meet LaMarr in Susanville and see her 2022 exhibition at the Nevada Museum of Art.

(deep upbeat music) (singer singing in foreign language) - Well, I hope when someone sees my work, they feel joy and feel the colors and how exciting the indigenous life is and designs.

And these are all created by my ancestors and they were experts in these fields.

- She has been committed to rejecting the idea of the vanished American Indian.

She wants audiences and everybody who sees her art to know that Native American cultures are a living and vibrant culture.

- There's nothing about us in the fourth grade.

I never learned about California Indians, and I said, "Where are all the Indians?"

Because just me and my sisters were going to school and we were the ones that were getting beat up on.

- [Colleague] When Jean went away to college at UC Berkeley, she was told by her professors that she couldn't include cultural content in her artwork.

She couldn't paint things that had native relevance or cultural relevance or it would be considered folk art.

Jean has always rejected those types of ideas and she's been committed to forging her own path.

- I went to Berkeley and there was a class of over 500.

Peter Selz was this art historian talking, and he made a comment about an artist's work, and one student in the class said, "I object to that.

I don't think you're right about that.

I think it should be this way and this way and this way."

Right away I felt like, "Oh man, that guy, he's gonna be in lot of trouble, get kicked out of class."

But Peter Selz welcomed that and thanked him for his input and said, "Yes.

That did add to that."

So, I finally realized I have a voice because we're the product of boarding school parent students, and we're told not to talk, say, dance, do anything whatsoever.

Well, finally, we get to be recognized.

We finally get to be recognized and we're proud of who we are.

We know our own history and nobody can put us away because we had a lot of brave people.

Because they were so brave, we're able to be alive now.

(singers singing in foreign language) (soft bright music) Murals are so important 'cause they're like a community statement.

Especially if you can go out, get the oral histories and learn some of the early histories and what really happened to that community.

You can put that image in that community and no non-Indian can come in there and say, "No, that's all wrong."

I worked on a mural in the gymnasium, on the Susanville Indian Rancheria with the community.

The Susanville Indian Rancheria is where we all live.

Most Indian home places are called reservations, but in California they called it the Rancheria.

So, this is beginning of life.

So, we heard about the coyote stories.

And here's Mr. Coyote sneaking around, going looking for food.

We showed sage brush and the baskets that are made from here.

It comes around here too.

An era that was ancient from hundreds of years ago.

They had layers and layers of baskets and moccasins.

Then it goes all the way over, goes to the times when Lawson was here.

And then to the bear dance.

That had been a real long tradition.

Then Oman Joaquin is in the middle.

Then it comes to the contemporary times.

We're still alive.

We're still celebrating our heritage and our culture.

This mural is done in Susanville, California on East Lassen Street.

Our Ancestors, Our Future.

So, I interviewed all these different people in town 'cause I know they had ancestors here from a long time ago.

We got a lot of good comments.

People walking by, "Oh, this is really nice."

The Indian people, I see them standing by their relatives.

All the little kids standing in front of their relatives and they take a picture of it.

It's just really nice.

It's really nice.

That's what I like to see.

(soft bright music) And I respect the fact that murals do need to be changed.

They can't stay forever.

It's not a Michelangelo where they have to keep repairing it.

So, it reflects kind of like the times.

If we do murals, that says we're present here and now.

That means we're still alive.

(soft bright music) (gentle rhythmic music) - In the early 1990s, Jean returned to her hometown of Susanville where she established the Native American Graphic Workshop.

The graphic workshop is a unique community hub where she brings together youth from the community, elders, as well as different artists - It's fun for people to do.

It's kind of an introduction to printmaking, working with the oils, solvents, paper, how to handle press, how to handle the paper.

I got people that do some fantastic work, but they don't even realize that what they're doing, they're doing some beautiful.

If I could do it, they can do it.

I hope I can blot down barriers.

(machinery whirring) (gentle rhythmic music) See, I like how the transparency looks.

It's not too heavy.

It's softer than you could bring up some hard lines with a definite imagery.

(gentle music) - All of us here have either learned from her, worked with her, been inspired by her work, continue to be inspired by the work tonight.

They were asked for Jamie and Toby Stump to come up and sing an honor song for Jean.

(upbeat percussive music) (singers hollering rhythmically) - The Nevada Museum of Art is really proud and honored to be able to present this retrospective exhibition of Jean LaMarr's work.

It features over 50 years of her paintings, prints, murals, installations.

- I'm so grateful for Anne to give me this opportunity.

No other museum would've given me this opportunity.

I'm a community artist, political artist, so it's difficult to get into a place.

(singers hollering rhythmically) - [Anne] As you're looking at Jean's artwork, you'll see a variety of symbols and motifs appear from time to time.

Sometimes that's a military fighter jet flying overhead.

Sometimes it's sort of this ubiquitous barbed wire that you see throughout the American West.

Sometimes it's an American dollar sign.

And she uses all of these symbols in different ways to critique American culture and to critique what has been a dominant culture that's for a long time suppressed Native American cultures in the United States.

(singers hollering rhythmically) - Everyone has a hope.

Everything has hope.

Happiness in there.

It might look negative, but there is hope for every little thing.

Or I'm making fun of something, I would never hurt anybody's feelings on purpose.

That's not my personality because we're really kind-hearted people.

Being positive, being positive on all notes.

That there's a way out.

There's hope.

There's always hope.

I always have that hope.

(singers hollering rhythmically) (wood thumping) (singers hollering) - See more of LaMarr's work on the Nevada Museum of Arts website at nevadaart.org.

And that wraps it up for this edition of "Arteffects".

If you want to watch new "Arteffects" segments early, make sure you subscribe to the PBS Reno YouTube channel.

And don't forget to keep visiting pbsreno.org to watch complete episodes of "Arteffects".

Until next week, I'm Beth MacMillan.

Thanks for watching.

- [Presenter] Funding for "Arteffects" is made possible by Sandy Raffealli with Bill Pierce Motors.

Heidemarie Rochlin.

(bright lively music) In memory of Sue McDowell.

(bright lively music) The Carol Frank Buck Foundation.

(bright lively music) And by the annual contributions of PBS Reno members.

(gentle lively music)